The "artistically gifted" were the only ones who had a chance for experience in the arts in the traditional secondary school, and that experience was distinctly limited. In the Thirty Schools the arts now occupy a much more important place. One school emphasizes that its major course in art and its major course in music are "comparable to the work in any academic field" and are "offered for entrance to college on a basis equivalent to that of any academic subject." 19 This school continues:
In some ways more important than the advanced work carried on by those preparing for professional training or for presenting art as a subject for entrance to college is the creative use of art by practically all pupils in connection with their other activities. The teachers in this department use every opportunity to relate their work to what is going on in the other departments, and the pupils themselves, with the encouragement of teachers in other fields, use their arts and crafts to enrich and give meaning to whatever they are doing. 20
Other schools, also, are convinced of the value of the arts for all students and have provided time in the program for them. One school reports:
Teachers of secondary school art in Des Moines do not conduct their classes merely for the talented few. They believe that those who build, who design furniture, cars, locomotives, dresses, cooking utensils, etc., are often greater artists than the creator of easel pictures. . . .
Art students have participated in a great variety of projects: doing murals; experimenting with color; making masks, stage-set designs, and costumes; designing panels for class parties; decorating plates and platters; block printing and screen printing Christmas cards.
Some of the stores of Des Moines co-operate with the art classes. Once a year they hire two or more high school artists to draw for the ads in the newspaper. Twice a semester art students cooperating with salesmanship and merchandising students, draw and compose the ads for the school newspaper. 21
Another school likewise emphasizes the opportunities provided in the arts for students not necessarily "gifted" in them. In a discussion of courses closely associated with the core curriculum, the following is said about the arts:
In one core course three weeks spent in exploring special interest fields such as crafts, games, dancing, painting, drawing, and clay modeling produced such an enthusiasm for creative manual activities that during the next year new semester courses were offered to meet the demand. In this high school and in others, such exploration of special interests had led to increased enrollment in home economics, in industrial arts, in machine shop, and in mechanical drawing. . . .
Closely associated with the developing core curriculum is the open laboratory in the arts which is set tip to meet the needs of pupils who are not necessarily "talented," or who have not time to take a semester course. Pupils who wish to make class contributions in some form other than writing find the art laboratory a welcome resource. In addition to opening a general laboratory for the needs of many different kinds of pupils, new classes have been formed in commercial art, stage design, drawing, painting, and art expression in many media for advanced students. 22
This increasing emphasis upon the arts in their various forms is the result of clearer understanding of their importance in the lives of young people. Teachers who are close to youth say that
1. Experience in the arts gives most boys and girls sheer enjoyment.
2. Through making something with their hands students express themselves in media other than words. This gives genuine satisfaction especially to the one to whom words do not come easily.
3. By doing, as well as by reading or listening, young people gain great satisfaction and grow in strength and self-reliance.
4. Creative self-expression often provides release from emotional tension and promotes mental and emotional balance and health.
5. Understanding and increased enjoyment come best through experience in self-expression.
6. By discovering through experience certain problems in any one of the arts and trying to solve them, the pupil becomes a keener observer of professional works and has greater appreciation of them.
These and other values are all emphasized in this statement by an arts teacher 23 of unusual insight:
I see over and over again the need for self-expression. The change from indifference to vivid interest when the student changes from the passive to the active in a learning situation is inescapable. Moreover, in teacher-pupil planning groups the students themselves recognize this need- "This term's art survey was better than the last one because the students talked and took part, instead of just listening." In dramatizing and acting one can see eager satisfaction as this need is met.
Also, self-expression in creative ways satisfies the needs of the imagination. This need is not found in the so-called "creative type" of student only.
Self-expression then, as I have seen it, satisfies the need to be active instead of passive, and also to say or paint or dramatize one's imaginings.
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8 Year Web Project
Introduction
III Curriculum-Needs
Traditional
